ART TODAY 11.18.19 Pentel pen on paper is Chris Bonno’s way of getting gibberish out of his head – Thank you Chris, Fun week!

ART TODAY 11.18.19 Pentel pen on paper is Chris Bonno’s way of getting gibberish out of his head – Thank you Chris, Fun week!

The Giant Floating Tomato

When Editor-in-chief Janice Bremec Blum asked Chis Bonno what advice he would give to aspiring artists, without flinching, he stated, “Get out of your own way!” He feels that everyone has their own, private and personal relationship with art and it shouldn’t be marred by the critical voices in our head.

Borrowing from the title of Danielle Krysa’s Your Inner Critic Is a Big Jerk, Bonno takes it one step further, “Your inner critic is an asshole!” He says poignantly but with a grin. However, he is adamant in his loathe of the phrase, That’s good enough. “It’s bullshit! That’s the critic in your head that tells you to stop, but you’ve got to keep going.” Never without a sketchbook, Bonno likes to capture the immediacy and randomness of when an idea or image strikes. “For years, I have pursued cartooning and illustration using a black Pentel pen on paper. It’s my favorite way to get a silly notion or gibberish out of my head or draw something that’s in front of me or in my mind’s eye. I cherish the feeling of pen to paper.” And that appreciation is evident in all of Bonno’s creations.​

One of our favorite Chris Bonno paintings is Shirley MacLaine and Jack Lemon from the classic movie “The Apartment”